History: Again I refer you to the excellent website: Warships of the World (see reference section below for url):

Deutschland Class Panzerschiffes

While never officially rated as battlecruisers, these ships still possessed the essence of a battlecruiser. Officially they were rated as "armored cruisers" or Panzerschiffe and were later reclassified as heavy cruisers or Schweren Kreuzers. The Deutschland was renamed Lutzow by order of Hitler in Feb./40.

Deutchland had much more conventional and much thinner hull armor than on Admiral Scheer or Graf Spee.

Name- Deutschland

Builder- Deutsche Werke,Kiel

Laid Down- Feb.9/29

Launched- May.19/31

Commissioned- Apr.1/33

renamed Lützow Feb./1940

torpedoed Apr.10/40 by British Swordfish

torpedoed again Jun./41

sunk Apr.16/45 in Kaiserfarht Canal

raised and used as artillery battery

badly damaged May.4/45 by RAF bombersat Swinemunde

scuttled May.16/45

raised & scrapped Sep./47 by USSR

The ship sported 6 - 11 inch main guns. The thought was that these ships would be able to handle convoy escorts or armed merchantmen with ease and be able to outrun any enemy capital ships they encountered. The Deutschland/ /Lutzow was the luckiest of the pocket battleships Germany constructed.

This is an excellent little kit, exceeding I believe Tamiya's early waterline efforts. Detail is very crisp, even the deck planking is scribed realistically. Armament is also well done and looks accurate. Following standard procedure, the hull and main deck are molded in one piece with small inserts for the bow and stern deck pieces. The waterline is attached to the hull and simulates the boot topping. Instructions are clear enough but as with most of these 1/700 waterline ships, painting instructions are vague. One would need to check references for accurate camo schemes worn throughout the ship's career. The parts are molded in a light grey plastic. I believe this kit is no longer in production but I found this one in a New York hobby shop not too long ago and it was at a reduced price.

This is an excellent representation of the infamous German raiders that were dubbed "pocket battleships." Italeri/ Testor's also offered a 1/700 Graf Spee that is eerily similar to this kit however the Fujimi offering is molded much more crisply. A great kit if you can find it.

 http://www.warships1.com/index_ships.htm

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